Roy Hodgson has been speaking to the media this afternoon (Friday) ahead of Crystal Palace's trip to face London rivals Chelsea on Sunday.

The Eagles boss has been speaking about the latest team news, Wilfried Zaha and the in-form Blues, among other topics.

And here's every word that Hodgson had to say at his pre-match press conference today.

Starting with the tragedy at Leicester City and your thoughts on that?

Shocking of course, an enormous tragedy for the families, of Vichai [Srivadhannaprabha] and for Leicester City Football Club.

Leicester owner and chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was among those to have tragically lost their lives on Saturday evening. Photo: PA Wire (Image: PA)

It must have been a very difficult week for them to have lost someone who did so much for them and for the football club and like everyone my sympathy and condolences go out to them, the family and wider football family at Leicester.

One can only hope they can find a way to grieve and recover from what is a massive loss.

Injury news for the weekend?

Nothing new. We had three players who suffered minor knocks against Arsenal and weren't able to travel with us to Middlesbrough, James McArthur, Wilf Zaha and Cheik Kouyate, but they have recovered well as I hoped that they would and they will be fine, and it is always nice to have that confirmed.

Christian Benteke is making good progress and continuing his programme of rehabilitation and Joel Ward is still recovering from his thigh strain.

Connor Wickham reacts during the pre-season friendly between Boreham Wood and Crystal Palace at Meadow Park on July 31, 2018. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

Connor Wickham has picked up a new thigh strain, which stopped him from taking part on Wednesday evening and he will be out now for a further period of time, which is a shame and a disappointment because he had been training for a while with us on a regular basis and we were harbouring the notion that he may now be fit enough to take part, but that is not the case and he isn't.

Have the players taken confidence from the Arsenal performance and have you seen that in training?

Well it is today really I have seen that team because Monday was a warm down, Tuesday was a second day recovery and several players played on the Sunday weren't able to train.

So [with the cup game] it has really only been today to see them since the game and work with them as a group.

But the mood was very good. The weather has been kind to us and that always helps your mood, but I thought the spirit was excellent, and there was no reason why it shouldn't be, because I thought the performance, as I said quite extensively after the game, was a good one and the players should feel proud of the performance they gave.

And even feel a bit sorry for themselves that they only had one point to show for their efforts.

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What are your thoughts going into the Chelsea game and will it change if Eden Hazard is fit to play?

No, I expect Eden Hazard to play. I always expect teams to play their best teams.

Most clubs change their teams for the EFL Cup, there are not that many who keep the same team, and I would be very surprised if the team that plays us isn't the team that has been playing and doing so well for the first ten games of the season, and that includes Eden Hazard.

For us, we know that at our best and when we work as well and as hard as we did against Arsenal, we can make life difficult, even for the very best teams, and we have to try and do the same against Chelsea.

We are playing a team of the same calibre with some extremely good quality players who can hurt you at any moment in time.

Palace have a good recent record against Chelsea - will that have any effect, perhaps psychologically?

No, because teams change.

We are even a changed team from the team that played the two matches I was in charge of last season.

And if you go back even further than that, there will be even more changes.

Most of our players will have played against Chelsea and will know the opposition and the quality of the opposition, and they will know that the task is a daunting one, because they are unbeaten with seven wins and three draws, and that's an incredibly good start to the season.

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They have done it playing good football, and they have even had a lot of success in the Europa League as well.

We can’t disguise the enormity of the task. We can’t try and make out it will be easier than it is going to be, but we have played Liverpool and Arsenal at home, who are both in the same ball park as Chelsea.

On both occasions we played well and did more than just compete, I thought we came very close to being able to win against those two teams, and our belief and confidence is based on that, much more than the results in the past.

Does the fact that the top sides won't worry so much about what you are doing, can that give your counter attacking style the chance to impose itself a bit more?

Well we don't have a counter attacking style.

Like all teams we try to counter attack quickly and well when we lose the ball, but we don’t play counter attacking football, per se.

We tend to play on the front foot and we don't just sink and allow teams to attack us at will.

We try to go toe to toe for the most part, and on some occasions - like the second half against Arsenal - we were the dominant team on the field.

That won't change in that respect.

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I don’t know what Chelsea’s attitude will be, that is a question for [Maurizio] Sarri I suppose as to whether it is the counter attacking football that bothers you, or our general play. Only he can answer that.

I don’t prepare for that, or for teams or managers to underestimate us, because I think we have shown enough to deserve not to be underestimated.

I have too much respect for the professionalism and the preparation of the opposing teams to really believe that they are taking a game against Crystal Palace lightly or nonchalantly, because it is a foregone conclusion.

If that was the case, I would be quite happy, but I don't think that will happen.

Wilfried Zaha - is he alright to play some part after his knock?

Oh yes. He jarred his shoulder on a fall, I think it might have been when the penalty was given, it was quite a heavy fall and he jarred his shoulder, which of course is quite painful.

But there was never any question that wouldn’t be good by the latter stage of the week. He trained on Wednesday with the small group that was here and trained today, so I never had any fears about him.

Eden Hazard. Is he the best player in the league, technically?

There are so many good players, I don’t know how you compare quite frankly, I really don't.

Manchester City must have three or four players who come into that category of fantastic technicians, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, they all have.

Wolverhampton have. We have one with Wilf Zaha, who is a fantastic technical player.

I don’t know how you compare to say this one is the best. If you ask me do I think he is a really good football player, hinging on a great player whose career so far has been exceptional and continues year after year to show his worth, then of course I am happy to hold my hand up for that and sing his praises.

But I don’t want to get drawn into who is best, I just think he is one of a number of good players in the Premier League and that, as an opponent you have to deal with these players.

As a neutral, and you weren't worried about trying to stop them from doing damage to your team, you would be sitting back and enjoying and admiring their play.

Maurizio Sarri. What have you made of him? He wasn't that well known in England before coming to Chelsea?

He is pretty well known in Italy I think and there are football fans in other countries, it is a worldwide game.

When I spent some time in Napoli a couple of years ago now, a lot of people had plenty to say about Maurizio Sarri, and all of it was positive.

So I wasn't surprised after the magnificent job he did at Napoli, that when Chelsea needed a new coach, they turned towards him.

I am also full of admiration for the way he has been able to settle in so quickly, and to have such a good start with the team.

That is by no means a foregone conclusion either.

I think the appointment of Gianfranco Zola alongside him was an extremely good appointment, because it is good when you come to a new country to have someone working alongside you who a, knows the football and the club extremely well, and b, s such a well respected figure. I was lucky enough to have that at Inter Milan and that has been replicated here.

What is there to say about someone who has come into the country and settled so quickly and the players when they talk about the training methods are all very positive and you can’t do much better than playing ten and being ten unbeaten, so I am sure he will have done an extremely good job in preparing his team to face us and we know if we are going to get points from the game, we will have to be every bit as good as we were in the games against Liverpool and Arsenal.

Andros Townsend - he has spoken about the frustration and challenge of scoring more goals for Palace. Do you share his frustration and what can he do about that?

Well he can’t do more than he does, which is work very hard on his game and the tactical side of the game that we work on, and to give his all, that's all he can do.

The fact is we are creating chances and with the quality of players we have, I am sure they will be converted sooner rather than later.

Andros Townsend celebrates after scoring his team's third goal during the Carabao Cup Third Round match between West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace at The Hawthorns on September 25, 2018 in West Bromwich, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

But it is good to hear the players are accepting that responsibility and taking on that accountability, and I find that very consoling to know that the messages we are preaching are getting across and the players are taking responsibility.

He has been an ever present since I have been here, because his work rate, his endeavour, his determination and his professionalism has been an enormous help in last season's fight for survival, and it will be an important factor for us this season as we try to move up the table.

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Yes of course they could, but there are other very good candidates so I am not prepared to rank them and say they have a better chance to win it than their major rivals, which I suppose at the moment would be Manchester City and Liverpool.

But I certainly am not discounting the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United, because they are very much in the mix and there are one or two sides outside of that looking pretty good at the moment.

So where they rank in terms of the betting I have no idea.

But if you ask me whether they have the quality and the organisation and quality of administration, of course they have, because they have won it several times in the last few years and there is nothing to stop you from doing it in the future.

There have been a few incidents recently with fans getting onto pitches and things being thrown at managers. Do you think security can be improved?

I have never seen anything thrown at a manager in England since I have been back.

It happened to me once in Italy before, I got cut in Italy, but it has not happened to me.

People running onto the field, we all deplore it and think it shouldn’t be done.

I think in most instances the stewards and the ones whose job it is to keep people off the field, they do an excellent job.

I don’t think one should try to be too critical when one or two people get through the net, but I don't do anything other than deplore it in the same way as everyone else and wish the stewards and security people at grounds to continue their good work.

It is nothing like it used to be in the past, and it is much harder to invade pitches now than it was and it seems to be harder for fans to throw things onto the field than it once was.

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